CC Sabathia has lost three straight decisions. Even worse, the Yankees left-hander has given up at least seven runs in his past three starts.

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild admitted Sabathia’s recent bad run — including Friday’s start, when he gave up seven runs in five innings — concerns him.

“Of course it does,” Rothschild said yesterday. “You don’t want him to worry about what he needs to do to be sharp and what’s going to happen next instead of just making pitches.”

The ace insisted he is OK physically after last year’s elbow surgery, and Rothschild said he trusts Sabathia, but can never be sure.

“Whether he’s fine or not, he’s not going to say it,” Rothschild said. “So you watch how he loosens up in between and if he tries to cut back on his side work. There are no signs of that.”

But Rothschild admitted Sabathia had ways around that.

“It’s hard to tell with him because he’ll even grind through side [sessions], knowing he’s being watched,” Rothschild said. “But last year, you could see a little difference. During games, there would be a drop in velocity.”

That hasn’t happened much lately but did pop up following the second inning, when Sabathia surrendered six runs.

“There was a little drop after the second, but that’s normal because he had a heavy pitch load in that inning,” Rothschild said. “There have been very few signs, if any, of him starting to have any problems health-wise.”

Despite that, Sabathia’s workload over his career is enough reason to keep a close eye on him.

“You always worry with a pitcher with the amount of innings he’s thrown,” Rothschild said. “But that’s not the case right now.”

Manager Joe Girardi admitted “it’s been a struggle” with Sabathia lately, but added “he has not complained about any ailments. He’s had no problem taking the ball and giving us innings.”

“The one thing with CC is he competes so well, so you trust he comes out of it,” Rothschild said. “It’s usually quicker than this. It’s usually one start and he’s back on it. This has been prolonged and we have to get him back on track.”

* Hideki Matsui will be honored before today’s game. Even though he announced his retirement during the offseason, the 2009 World Series MVP will sign a minor league contract so he can retire as a Yankee.

* Curtis Granderson had his best day at the plate since starting a rehabilitation assignment on Thursday, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles — his first two hits in his third minor league game — and scored a run in Single-A Tampa’s 11-6 loss to Charlotte at Steinbrenner Field last night.

“Overall better than [Friday],” Granderson said. “I just need at-bats. It’s not the results. It’s timing and being able to hit balls I should hit. That’s the main thing.”

The outfielder reported no problems with his broken left pinky finger after playing seven innings and will serve as Tampa’s designated hitter in today’s game at 1 p.m.

Jayson Nix (hamstring) also played seven innings at third base and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Like Granderson, Nix will be in the Tampa lineup this afternoon and said he could return to the Yankees on the upcoming West Coast trip.